A Most Interdimensional Adventure
by EternalShad0w
Summary: When we left off, Zuko and Katara had what seemed like a bad cactus juice trip. Now they're dumped by a very unsympathizing Cosmos into another world. There they quickly find they are not alone as a mysterious old man followed them without even wanting to. Rated T for Tmild swearing, oh yeah, and Torture References, Tcharacter Death and generally Tunpleasant People.
1. The First Chapter

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I love reviews, they are my soul food. That and popcorn. It makes me happy to note that I got reviews almost instantaneously too. A gracious bow to you, sirs and/or madams. Since I'm on a caffeine rush I decided to write the next chapter/fic almost immediately as well. ( Look, a day or so is almost instantaneous after months of not publishing a single chapter.) Here you go.

The Story of Waking up Awkwardly in a Forest with an Archenemy in a Difficult Situation

One second, there was peace and tranquility in the forest, the mighty eagle shrieked from high up in the sky. An elk raised its head from some lichen on a stone to gaze for predators foolish enough to attack it. The next second was complete chaos. The poor elk disintegrated to make way as a trio of mismatched characters dropped into what was now a burnt spot on the ground. One of them lost his mask in a bush he rolled past, another rolled down a shallow sinkhole near a tree, the last rolled into a puddle. None were happy, all were completely knocked out.

It took Katara a few minutes to wake up in a small hole at the base of a great ash tree. Of course, she probably didn't know it was an ash tree since they don't exist in her world. The very first thing she noticed was the pain of a million bruises. She searched for her water pouch only to find it was empty and torn. She slowly staggered to her feet and looked around for water. All she saw was some ash of the burned kind, a charred spot on the ground and a very large forest. Then her vision cleared and she saw a teenager lying with his back to her. She staggered over to see if he was hurt. The shock of who it was made her tumble back into her hole. As she lay there her head spun and memories came out from nooks and crannies in her mind. It looked somewhat like this

TEASHOPZUKORAINBOWTEASPINNYWALLSWAVYFLOORSGINSENGWTFAANGSOKKA WHERE AM I?!

It didn't feel very pleasant, but the shock took away the pain as she rushed from her hole and started beating the crap out of Zuko's still body. He moaned and woke up.

Zuko's first thought was very similar to his last in his own world. Sort of like

But seriously am I really that bad at tea?

Then he noticed the pummeling and beating he was getting from an all too familiar face. He ignored the pain and kicked himself up, firing off some flames in her direction. They missed and only scorched some grass.

"STOP!", some random voice called. A man in a light brown robe carrying a gnarled staff came out of the trees, his robe was very wet. "Who the hell are you two?", he shouted. "And what are you doing here with me?" They didn't know what to say. One rarely does when a weird old man dressed in a wet robe asked who you were. After a few moments of mutual puzzlement, Katara gave the man some pity.

"I-I am Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, who are you?", instead of answering the man turned to Zuko.

"Like I'm just going to tell a random stranger my name!", was the only answer the man's inquisitive stare got.

"Horseturds", he said rather bizarrely. He then started muttering to himself, pacing back and forth. "this...bad...HORSECRACKERS...it had...happen...me", were the only things they heard.

"Who are you?", Katara said once more. He seemed to notice she was still there.

"I am Sigmund, for now, before I was Simon, but that was the past.", he answered after a few moments.

"So who are you?", she asked for clarification.

"I am Cyrus, but that's in the future or the past for all I know. You see I have a different name for different times, and different times for a different name. Of course, my whereabouts matter a lot as well. Never doubt that."

Neither Katara nor Zuko saw what he meant and exchanged a look for possibly the first time ever without glaring.

"So what is your REAL name?", Zuko asked, for further clarification.

"I sincerely wish I remembered that, but ah well, the consequences of a misspent youth."

They still weren't sure about him, in fact if anything they thought he was being even more untrustworthy.

"So where are we and what are we doing here?", Katara asked, deeming that those were the most important questions for now.

"Hm... I knew that would come up sooner or later. I don't really know. I think something threw me off course when I passed through that teashop, was any of you making ginseng tea while on the exact opposite of the world someone stepped on a crack in the road just as I was passing through the wall between the Middle and the Inner Rings?"

Zuko's eyes widened a bit and then he scrunched up his nose in disbelief.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, I don't make the rules I just try my best to bend them and this time it didn't work. Though that would explain it all, this isn't a million to one chance, no, this is practically a googleplex to one chance and I'm incredibly unlucky to have fallen for this, and you two are as well, of course."

This didn't explain anything to either of the two teenagers. So they resigned to staring at the man they now thought was completely mad. He just kept going.

"However I don't think that answers your questions, does it? Um...how to put this. If you saw a map of the world right now. You probably wouldn't recognize anything." He flinched at their shocked stares.

"Are you trying to say that we aren't in our own world?", Zuko asked with a slight trepidation for the answer. The awkward silence that followed gave him all the answers he didn't want but really needed. He fainted. Well, more like fell to the ground as if his legs couldn't carry him anymore and just quietly shivered when the full realization of what just happened struck him. "This can't be happening, this isn't happening.", he mumbled under his breath.

Meanwhile, Katara had been sitting back just trying to take in everything, twisting and bending the situation until she'd seen all the angles she could make out. Now she felt she should take a stand. She stepped forward a bit and looked straight into Sigmund's eyes and asked what she felt most important.

"Sooo... can you take us back at once, please?" He looked at her for a few seconds, seemingly appraising different ways to get them home. At least she hoped he did.

"I can take you back all together at once if you'd like to have his bladder instead of your heart and vice versa." She got a bit paler and felt bile at the back of her throat.

"Then could you take someone first and then return and take the other one?"

"No, no, no, I can't do that, either. See, every world has its own time controlling device called a Chronolith at the center of the world, and they all work differently. For example, yours work by counting down to the Comet and then skipping ahead 80 years. While this one could skip potentially 100 years while I'm gone with the one who goes first. This means I'll return when the second one is either very old or dead. Not ideal, especially seeing as you two are rather, well, big in your world."

"Then what CAN we do?", Katara hated how much of her desperation and confusion slipped through that sentence, but she didn't care anymore. The prospect of never meeting her friends and brother again... She wondered what they would think when she didn't return. She had left a note that said she would be gone to shop a bit for a few hours. A NOTE! Knowing Sokka he would freak out just because of the note, what would happen if she didn't return. What would her father and Gran think when they heard that she was nowhere to be found? What would Aang think? That she had abandoned them? No, he would never think that. Would they believe she had gotten kidnapped by the Dai Li? She knew they would search for her, and she knew their search would be fruitless. Not even the Avatar could travel to another world. Except he could but that was the Spirit World. Was it there they were? No, it felt too solid for what she thought was the Spirit World. Too real, even if their situation felt very unreal. She wondered what Toph would think, would she too try to search for her? Perhaps, most likely, absolutely. She felt a tear welling up as a single raindrop fell on the tip on her nose.

"Fantastic, now it's raining as well, this does NOT help the thought process", Simon yelled at the sky as if that would solve everything. "Get up, Mr. Angstypants, Miss, we need shelter. Not only would that get us out from this miserable rain but it would help in the long run as well by telling us where in Hell we are." With a little help from Cyrus she managed to get Zuko up before he started yelling at them in the tongue of Sailors. He literally exploded, well not in the gory sense, ew, but in the sense that he made a second charred stop near the first bigger one. This singed Katara and left some burns on her palms, Sigmund thanked luck for having it rain so that there wouldn't be more damage to the forest. And so they started walking, Simon in the lead cursing to himself, Katara in the middle trying to heal her hands with the rain, and Zuko trailing off behind them, glowering at everything in his way.


	2. And of Finding Out Where You Are

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ah, I found questions in my letterbox.

Where is this in the time line?

This is after Iroh gets his own tea shop but before Azula fake-invites them over to the Earth King's palace.

Does Katara know about bloodbending?

Katara doesn't know anything about bloodbending, but I might have her find out, potentially...

I just realized that my backspace doesn't work.

And of Finding Out Where You Are

As they trudged through the forest towards, well, anything that could be called civilization. The man kept talking about things none of them understood. What did a Fire Nation invention have to do with continuity? Was his name Silas?

They didn't really care, Katara was mostly quiet in the middle, thinking of her friends and family. Zuko was just stumbling along behind them, pretending this wasn't happening, lashing out at anything that got too close. They were just walking up a small ridge when Whatever-the-hell-his-name-is said something about music intensifying. As they reached the top, they saw a small, beautiful village near a valley lake. A bridge from it extended over to an island upon which rose a large, fortified building. The view was breathtaking enough for them to forget their troubles and aching feet, just for a second. Then they remembered that they weren't even supposed to know that the village existed. That the world they were in wasn't theirs. That threw everything in a darker, more threatening sheen. Silas (?) seemed to sense their discomfort.

"Um... well... welcome to Arendelle, I guess, because that's where we are. Um, a friendly hint, you really shouldn't be bending out in public. They're not exactly, uh, friendly, towards people with 'special powers' here. Not a lot of people have them.", he said, throwing glances at the village. He then proceeded to somehow slide down the rocky, uneven slope like it was made of ice. Katara and Zuko hesitantly followed him down the most decidedly non-slippy slope. As they got down to the road, Simon cleared his throat.

"So, Katara, I hope you grasp the fact that you are going to attract some glances, being underage and looking somewhat like you're part of a minority that hardly ever leave their native soil. So, with your consent, I'm going to make a few..."modifications" in your physical appearance and take you, so to say, a bit further in your path towards senescence."

"Which is?" Katara felt that was a very legitimate question, but Cyrus just brushed it off.

"This probably won't hurt, I can't say because I've never put anyone, even myself, through this."

Katara began backing away.

"Stand still!" He made the gesture of pulling two heavy things away to the side. This had the very peculiar effect of opening a green and black hole in the middle of the sky. His whole body shuddered with disgust as he reached into the hole towards Katara. Katara had a split moment when her entire being, not her life, everything she was and wasn't and could be and would be and had been. It was a very unpleasant experience. She then collapsed to the ground and turned briefly into a jumbled heap of flashing symbols, before re-appearing as a woman who seemed to be in between 18 and 20. Zuko barely managed to not stare at her. She opened a couple of smoldering furious, blue eyes. After awkwardly stumbling up on her suddenly very long legs while also trying to compensate for the sudden weights on her chests, she just stood there, her legs shaking as if she was a newborn muntjac. She said some very (in her opinion) fitting insults to Silas and only stopped herself from strangling him by reminding herself that he was her only way out of that world. She sat down again to avoid collapsing. At least her body was reacting like it had been changing to this for, well, 4 to 6 years. Unlike those stories about spirits changing the souls of the mother and the daughter where some of the drama was about the daughter not being accustomed to the daily physical activities of the mother and vice versa. It wasn't as uncomfortable as the actual process of aging had been. It was probably because her body accepted it like normality that her mind accepted it so readily as well. Zuko was at the same time once again in the sweet embrace of denial. Katara had always been 3 years his senior and smoking hot , hadn't she? His excuses were becoming less and less plausible for every time he made one up.

"You won't believe how weirdly that makes me feel, poking about in your privates... that sounded much better in my head. Um... another thing, oh god, this feels wrong..."

He made a hole again and reached through, this time both Katara and Zuko blacked out. When they woke up, they felt like they had eaten an entire dictionary and grammar course scroll. It felt very weird.

"Let's not do that again.", Sigmund shuddered. He then motioned for them to follow him. When they reached the gate they were stopped by some guards.

"Let me do the talking.", Cyrus whispered to them. He approached the guard captain, who started speaking in a strange language Katara and Zuko never had heard before. Except they knew it perfectly. Katara had started accepting these strange things about now, but Zuko still couldn't believe it. This was just too impossible. People just weren't flung into another dimension by making tea, they just weren't.

"What is your business here in Arendelle?", the guard captain asked, pointing his spear at him.

"Oh, nothing much. We're just passing through. Now, would you let us through?", Sigmund said impatiently.

"Passing through? The excuses these days. But we still need your names, sir." He moved restlessly. The spear looked brand new.

"Oh, of course... I am... I'm..." He cleared his throat. "I am... Sigmund... Pedersson... yes... Sigmund Pedersson and this is... Katara of the... Tunumiit Eskimos and this is... Roku Asano, ambassador of the Japanese Emperor Ninkō." Silas grinned unconvincingly. The guard captain narrowed his eyes.

"Isn't he a bit young to be an ambassador of Japan?"

"Yes, yes he is. However, he is a diplomatic prodigy."

"Uh-huh. I'll have to check with my superior and see what he..."

"No, no you don't."

"Actually, on second thought maybe I don't. Welcome to Arendelle, ambassador, miss, sirs."

The guards parted and they went through the gate, leaving the captain to shake his head in confusion. After they had gotten far enough away, Katara asked the million-dollar questions.

"Uhm, what just happened?" Simon just turned to her, ready to spout off some sesquipedalian exposition. "Nevermind!" Zuko, however, wasn't backing off.

"And just how am I supposed to pose as the ambassador for a country I know nothing about?"

"I told you the most important thing, the ruler is an emperor named Ninkō. Oh, and also you have a very high sense of honor. You'll fit right in." Zuko was not convinced. "Anyway, come on. Let's find an inn and we'll sleep of the tire of trans-dimensional traveling through sheer bad luck. Maybe I'll figure out who I am, can't wait for that."

They finally got two rooms in a small inn called Det Skyggefulle Verthuset, the name didn't make it sound like a very nice place, and the patrons or the bartender didn't make it any nicer, but Katara desperately needed a room for herself and Zuko didn't want to share rooms 'with a random stranger', quite understandable, this inn was the only one with three rooms free. She told them something about re-acquainting herself with her body. They reassured her that they didn't want the details and she shouted at them to 'get their minds out of the gutter'. After a very quick dinner of some fish and some sort of spudly vegetable, they retired to their rooms and went to sleep.

OPTIONAL AN, You can skip this if possible. Well, you can skip the first one too. In fact, you probably did: Next time I'll see about kicking the plot into action for real. Stay tuned. Or something.

Damn backspace.


	3. And of Finding Out the Time

AN: Backspace still doesn't work. I think most of the fancy words in the last chapter was just to brag about how I didn't even need it anyway. You hear me, Backspace? I don't need you! Anyway, enough about that. Enjoy! By the way, does anyone know Tunumiisut here, because at the time I'm using what I think is Kalaalisut or some other dialect.

And of Finding Out the Time

Cyrus/Sigmund/Simon/Silas didn't sleep. Well, their body rested, but they were working through the night on overdrive. The night was the perfect time to take Cyrus off the steering wheel and have what Simon called a 'cerebral congregation of psychic entities' but everyone else just called it a meeting. Mostly they just talked about the plot of their favorite universes, other times they just bantered a bit to pass the time. This time, however, was much more important.

"So, are we going to help them or not?", Cyrus asked.

"O' coorse we ur, how come nae? ", Silas asked.

"'Cause, technically this is their fault. If they hadn't made that tea...", Sigmund began.

"Oh, come on. This is their fault as much as it is our fault by that logic. We did go through that gate at that moment. It's also that one person who stepped on that crack's fault. We can't blame just them.", Cyrus said. "What do you think, Simon." The entity in question stirred in his part of the brain and spoke.

"I, for my part, can't comprehend why we are arguing about this situation. Do none of you recall Ginny?", this question was enough to make even Sigmund recoil in shame in the orbitofrontal cortex. Something stirred behind the psychic walls locking up a part of the mind.

"Pig's arse, that wasn't our fault. We landed right in the fnoggin' middle of Westeros and that ankle biter wasn't even the real canon Ginny. If anythin' it was the Author's fault, accordin' to Simon.", he said.

"Oh, Gardan it, Sigmund. Just because I told you about my Author Theory doesn't mean I believe in it. You can't blame everything on an intangible, possibly nonexistent otherworldly entity. You hate it when religious people do it, why do it yourself?", Simon snapped.

"Guys, guys. Calm doon.", Silas said, gliding in between them. "We wilnae solve anythin' by quarreling. Aye, we... lost Ginny. Aye, 'twas sort o' oor fault. Bit that doesn't mean we kin juist let that happen again. That wid be mad! Forby, ye'r forgetting we lost mair than Ginny... ", he trailed off. His sensory instruments probing the psychic wall around the hypothalamus.

Behind it was their fifth part, Xavier. Xavier had taken the loss of Ginny the worst. He had been the only one who hadn't been moping about their situation at the time and therefore had been the only one to try and help her. So to say he took it badly would be an understatement. After that he had said that he had failed Ginny, locked himself out of their telepathic connection and hadn't come out since.

"We hae tae dae this, nae juist fur thaim, bit fur Ginny 'n' Xavier as well.", Silas said. "All fur?"

"Indeed."

"Affirmative"

"...Oh, all right. For Xavier... and Ginny. And for the ankle biters I guess..."

Silas started emitting endorphins, which was as close to a smile as you could get when you were a psychic energy being inside someone's head.

"Then it's settled. We wull dae anythin' tae git thaim back, as soon as we hae figured oot howfur..."

They emitted a slight outburst of prolactin and then steeled themselves.

"This is gonna be a tough nut to crack...", said Cyrus. Agreeing mutters echoed throughout the mind.

The next morning Katara wondered why she wasn't in her room in Ba Sing Se when the incidents of yesterday hit her like lightning. She dry-retched on her floor, trying to take it all in. Then she saw herself in the dirty mirror adjacent to her bed. Another shiver rippled through her. The stress of traveling transdimensionally had sort of dampened her mind into a cozy feeling of apathy so that the full force of the situation hadn't hit her head on. It had just bumped into her in passing, but now it apparently had decided to try again. She spent Spirits knew how long just laying on the bed, staring at the roof. Then she heard a polite knock on her door and the voice of one of the serving girls called on her. At first, Katara had no idea what she was saying. Then the mist in her head cleared and the jabbering turned into words, words she understood. She called back that she wasn't ready yet. That was the first time she had spoken the language and it showed. She tripped over words, pausing at times to search through the dictionary of her memories and was painfully aware that she was pronouncing every single letter wrongly. In the end, she managed to get the message through to the not too bright serving girl and she left. Katara sighed. Her clothes were laying on a rickety chair that had once been red. The remains of an exquisite flower pattern slithered up the legs. The state of the chair somehow managed to capture the spirit of the entire inn. Fallen beauty. Katara supposed the chance of eternal exile from her home left her a bit more philosophical than usual. She dressed, taking the time to weigh her new assets in her hands with a frown.

"How could they be so big?", she muttered in another language she had never heard before. This caused her to pause momentarily and feel the sharp bite of despair for a second. Unbeknownst to her it was Tunumiisut, and was placed there together with the Norwegian, if a bit more rooted into her memory banks, courtesy of Cyrus. To her it was just the language she grew up with, which was wrong, right? Katara got a severe migraine and spent a minute with her head down the chamber pot. Then she finished dressing and went out to the dining room. There she found Zuko sitting in a corner and staring into a wall. After a few moments consideration, she sat down in front of him.

"Hey...", she said in what she hoped was the language in their world. She didn't know anymore. Zuko said something in another language and then visibly reddened.

"What right does he have to just place these languages in our heads?", he blurted angrily. "And it's more than just languages, I remember an entire upbringing that wasn't mine. I remember my father and my mother and how proud they were... "He trailed off a bit before continuing. "What right does he have?!", he almost shrieked. Some of the shady patrons started giving them odd looks. Then a weird mix of many different accents and pitches trailed up from behind them.

"Right now it's my right to do this for your own safety. If I don't you won't amalgamate as well as you should. And then you'll be found...", said Silas.

"By whom?", asked Katara, but Sigmund didn't answer. He only muttered something about not being in their right place, which was obvious. Then he spoke up

"Look, you're probably wondering what my name is. The thing is... I've got four of them. It's not that I've got MPD, no, no. This is much more recondite than that. Not to say that I'm not mad. Everyone is, to a degree." He paused, seemingly trying to get back on track. He told Zuko something that made said firebender's gaze darken. "Now, first on the list is finding out the time. Emperor Ninkō might or might not actually already be dead or not even born. We could be anywhere in time and we need to move hastefully. Who will volunteer to go out in the market and find out what's the what right now?" There was a moment of awkward silence, then Katara stood up and declared that she needed to stretch her legs anyway. Only she did so in Tunumiisut, and her subsequent leaving didn't make it look any better. Zuko, too, excused himself, in the Normal Language and went to his room muttering in Japanese about Simon's lack of knowledge in said tongue. Sigmund sighed, "Beauty."

Katara realized about when she came to the market square that she had neither any money nor had she stated her intentions in the correct language. She moaned in annoyance, maybe she could just browse for the future? She saw a group of men raise a pole of grass and flowers whilst others streamed towards the outer walls of the big building. She was inspecting an apple when the gates opened and music started playing. A strawberry-blonde woman in a dress came out singing to it. Katara briefly wondered whether or not this was some sort of show, except the people around her acted like this was normal and Katara couldn't see any musicians. The woman ran towards the stalls, holding her dress up. She kept singing triumphantly in words that took Katara too long to understand to care. She circled around the pillars, doing a piruetting past her and then going to the docks and going out of sight around a corner. The music continued for a few seconds before stopping abruptly, leaving Katara to stare dumbfoundedly at the stairs the woman had walked down.

"You gonna buy that?", wondered the clerk, who seemed to mostly just leave and go with the rest of the village through the gates. Katara looked at her like she had no idea what she was doing.

"No, no, just... what's it called?", she asked.

"Browsing?", the clerk said tiredly.

"Aap, uh, yes.", she said, putting back the apple and backing away embarrased. The clerk grumbled something before packing up her shop and leaving for the gates after throwing Katara an evil eye. Katara wondered if she really should be getting enemies the first thing she did in a new world. She was still backing when suddenly some bells started ringing. Katara looked around to where it could be from when the singing woman ran into her. She cried out in shock and crawled away.

"Patsit, patsit!", she apologized and ran off, leaving the woman to sit there and pick herself up. Katara realized she had been very rude and briefly considered going back before her common sense returned. The woman was probably long gone, and really she was probably a loon.

The man/men with five names beginning with an S-sound was sitting at the same table internally debating whether or not t(he)y had already screwed this up when Katara stormed in. She was wide-eyed and speed-talking in Tunumiisut about something.

"Hey, I don't speak Eskimo.", said Sigmund. Katara released a glare that promised pain and suffering. Silas flinched. Katara sat down.

"So... I was just having a looksee over at the market when this crazy madwoman just burst out of the gates to that large building... ("Castle", Simon explained.) Shut up, I'm talking. And she's singing, to music, from musicians that aren't even there. So I figured that you've known what's going on before so why not now? What the hell just happened?", she looked like she was doubting her own sanity.

"I see you've encountered a musical number. Trust me, their fairly common in a world like this one. It's like in a play where a character just bursts into song declaring their feelings to a world which for some ungodly reason has decided to stop caring about what's going on in a one meter radius from themselves."

"That's weird.", Katara raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, that's a smart way of stating a character's feelings to the audience. But, yes, it's also a little bit preternatural.", Simon said. At that moment, Zuko had decided that he was too hungry to stay in his and the S-man's room. The S-man waved him over. He sighed and sat down next to Katara.

"Now, since Katara apparently decided to check out our surroundings anyway...", he started.

"What do you mean 'anyway'?", Katara said indignantly.

"I'm talking now, you get your turn afterwards. Anyway, what she told leads me to deduce that we are in the part known as the beginning, or as a native would call it, coronation day." He paused for a dramatic effect that was totally lost on the two teens. He glared at them.

"Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis habes.", he muttered angrily. Katara and Zuko found that they had gotten used to random gibberish like this long ago. "Now, what we are to do is this: We get into the castle courtyard, since it's open for public that'll be the easy part. Then we find a way into the castle and..."

"Excuse me, just wondering, why do we need to go to the castle?", Katara asked dubiously.

"Because in there is a person who might help us. Your world has these magical bendy powers... ("Bending.", Zuko corrected.) Right... In the castle there is someone who has sort of the same powers. In theory, I believe this might be the key to getting you back. We need something similar and that's the closest one. Mind you, this is just pure guessing. But it's your only chance right now. Anyway, I don't remember correctly who this person is, but I do remember it'll be revealed at the coronation. Meaning: We want to be there. Extremely much.", he looked them dead serious in the eye. "Now I don't know how the power-wielder will reveal him or herself. Be ready for anything. Shall we go?" Katara reflected upon how she had just started trusting the S-man without even thinking. She'd done that before with Jet and that ended very badly. But then again, this man was her and Zuko's only hope to come home, unless they suddenly learned how to travel transdimensionally. She nodded pensively and Zuko did so too, albeit more begrudgingly. And so it was decided. They stood up from their chairs and walked out the door.

AN: I know, I know. I've been gone quite a bit. But with the loss of my backspace I feel that I'm entitled to getting more time to plan this story out. Otherwise there might be unwanted mishaps along the way. I'm posting this as I'm pretty sure that the plot is well done enough to be put on the table. See ya next time. Also I'm not semi-Australian, semi-British, semi-American or Scottish, but my grandmother was before she moved to Sweden.


	4. And of the Snow Queen

AN: Sorry I'm so late. You know about my broken Backspace, yeah? Well I gave it to a guy to fix it...and I never saw it again. So I had to buy a new one but first I went through the guy's trial and everything. It was a mess. But...at the end of the day I got a new computer and the Backspace works. I can't prove it though so just believe me when I say it. Anyway, to the story, shall we?

And of the Snow Queen

The courtyard was so filled with people that Katara had to keep track of Zuko and the S-man to not lose them. The sun was beating down from the sky and people were pushing each other around a red carpet going from a large squarish building to the larger one. Then the doors opened. People were cheering for a pale, stately woman walking along the red carpet. She wore a tiara on her head and strangely enough a pair of blue gloves even in this heat. Katara could with a bit of willpower pick out what the crowd was cheering.

"Long live Queen Elsa!"

Katara saw the woman who had collided with her before talking with a handsome, brown-haired man. Or more like talking to. All he could do was laugh or nod at the right times whilst she went on and on, seemingly trying to talk over the cheers. Katara thought he looked nice, she also paled a bit over the fact that the woman seemed important. Zuko, having lived in the Fire Nation court where lies and plots and schemes was common stance, thought that his smile only reached his eyes by half. But he wasn't sure. He had never been particularly good at telling lies from truth. This was why he always had a little mantra going on when the only person who was often there to lie to him told him anything.

"Azula always lies, Azula always lies..."

But always, deep in his mind, he had thought, what if she didn't this time? In the end he had always fallen for it. Like the time she had told him Father had decided to let him back to court... But that was in another world. Right now, he was here to find someone with powers like his own. Apparently. He still wasn't sure about this Sigmund guy... or was his name Simon? Something like that. Right now he was following him because he saw no other way. How they were actually getting into the white-listed party was still unclear. The entourage went into the castle and the doors closed behind them. He joined up with Silas and Katara to ask about the plan, mostly to be able to chew Simon out if he hadn't come further than this.

"So", he said. "How are we going to get in?" He smirked inwardly when Simon seemed stunted.

"Well...", he started. "Umm...You see..."

"Hey, isn't Zuko supposed to be an ambassador?", Katara interrupted. Zuko's internal smirk fell. Cyrus looked thankful.

"Exactly my thought, I was just about to state that as well. We are getting in through Zuko's fake influence.", he said, his eyes never meeting theirs. "Come on, let's go."

Zuko let out a snort while Katara sighed and so they walked up the stairs to the main doors to the castle. They were immediately stopped by two guards. Zuko tried to swallow the clump in his stomach. Nobles in the Fire Nation court were always arrogant when speaking to common people. Of what he could glean from his false memories, the Japanese had had a policy of isolationism for over 200 years. The only ships allowed in from Europe were from the Netherlands thanks to the Rangaku, so Zuko briefly wondered if that meant that he was really supposed to know Dutch instead of Norwegian. Of course, Cyrus hadn't thought of that and there was no knowledge of the Dutch language anywhere in the false memories. But then again who would know? And so he started talking in a very stilted and accented Norwegian.

"Excuse me, gentremen. But I am an ambassadoru of de Great Emperoru Ninkō", he said with the most politely arrogant voice he could muster. It sounded however more arrogant than polite and Zuko wondered if he had screwed up. As the guards glanced at each other, snickering to each other because of his accent, Zuko realised that they looked very similar, perhaps they were brothers.

"You sure look like a slint-eye...", the taller one said.

"But how can we be sure you're actually an ambassador?", the bearded one finished. Zuko opened his mouth to speak but no answer came out. Shit, he thought. It wasn't as if he had a special piece of paper he could just show them. He heard Sigmund grumble in the background as suddenly there it was in his belt. A roll of paper. He triumphantly gave it to them. The taller one took it from him and read it. Then he squinted at it, he frowned and then he looked at Zuko with fire in his eyes.

"You havin' a giggle, mate? How am I to know this isn't just some kind of gurgle-murgle?", he spat at him whilst waving the letter in Zuko's face. It was filled with Hirigana symbols punctuated by the Kanji for Ninkō-tennō, Emperor Ninkō. Suddenly a familiar voice spoke up from behind them.

"Is there a problem?", it was the guard captain from the gate.

"Sir, this man is tryin' to get in as the Japoniske (they couldn't pick up that word) ambassador, but all he gives me is a letter of scribbles and his word that it's written by their Emperor, Nin-coo was it?" Zuko's correction fell on deaf ears. "Asking permission to throw him and his friends out on their arses, sir!", the taller one leered

"Permission denied, stand down soldiers. You stand in the presence of the Japanese ambassador Roku Asami.", he roared. The guards turned a few shades paler as they stared at Zuko.

"We're t-t-terribly sorry, sir. B-but you know, you can't be too careful, right?", the bearded one got out after a few tries.

"I wirr ret dis pass for now. But know dat de Emperoru wirr hear of disu.", he threatened. It felt good to scare the previously so rude guards. The guards stammered out more apologies. "Yes, sir!" "Terribly sorry, sir!"

"Sorry about that, m'lord. The Olsen brothers are notorious for their rude manners. I apologize sincerely in the place of Her Majesty the Queen Elsa.", the captain said, showing them into the castle. Zuko scoffed.

"Perhapsu disu landu isn't as barbaric as I tought.", he said arrogantly, reveling in his power.

"Thank you, m'lord.", the captain said, feeling quite good about himself for having stopped a potential diplomatic crisis. Little did he know... He bid farewell to them as he wasn't allowed into the Great Hall and then he turned and disappeared into the outside crowd after telling a servant what he was to announce. Then Zuko, Katara and Cymund entered the throne room.

"The Ambassador of the Emperor of Japan, Roku Asami." Zuko entered and went up to the dais. He heard a few murmurs about his faraway origins, others wondered how he got that horrible burn. Some of the unmarried women started talking about how it made him look so mysterious and how if all Japanese men looked like that maybe they should think about moving there.

"The...um...his friend...Katara of the Tunumite Inyooits...", the servant declared, not quite sure about her title. Then he look at Cymund and just stared.

"Their...companion...Sigmund Pedersen?", he sounded very unsure. The guests started to mumble about the two other new arrivals, who were they and why were they important enough for the ambassador to bring them along? Weren't they called Eskimos? Was he and the Eskimo in a relationship? Some of the unmarried ladies started glaring at Katara, trying to find faults.

"Look how thin she is! I thought the Eskimos were made of snow and ice! Who does she think she is?"

Katara wanted to shout at them that she would never date that monster, however that would probably spell out disaster and doom for all involved, and so she instead walked forward with her head held high. Cymund Silier just walked like he always did, eliciting some irritated glares from the guests that weren't busy glaring at Katara. He didn't seem to care. Zuko reached the dais while Katara and Cymund hung back. Katara suddenly realised that the woman she had bumped into was standing next to the queen. She gulped. That wasn't good. She decided to stay back, she didn't need to go with Zuko after all, right? Cymund found a good corner. Zuko himself reached the dais only then realising he was alone there and looked back at Katara with something like betrayal in his eyes. The woman beside the queen saw where he looked and apparently remembering Katara waved semi-discreetly and over-enthusiastically to her. Katara smiled awkwardly and waved politely back. The newly-crowned queen raised an eyebrow and glanced from me to the woman and the whispered something to her.

"Yeah, we...into each other when...gates...opened.", the woman's enthusiastic reply came muffled through the murmur of the crowd. The queen turned forward again with what seemed like an 'Aha' leaving her mouth. Zuko's grand entrance was cut off by a short, but pompous old man with two gorillas trailing after him. The steward introduced him as the Duke of Weasel-Town. Zuko had no idea why someone would name their home in such a derogatory way. He didn't quite hear the Duke's answer but after a bow and a few words he dragged the other woman, that Zuko suspected was the queen's sister, onto the dance floor. This left the way clear for Zuko. And so he went up to the queen of Arendelle and tried to go as much into the personality of Roku Asami that was drifting under his subconscious as possible. He got very self-conscious of the way he had talked to those guards at the doors and spoke slowly to avoid his accent showing to much. 'And, Zuko, always remember the L:s. A man needs his L:s', his inner voice guided him. It sounded like his uncle. He felt his mouth go dry. The queen, while not exactly what he would call beautiful, was certainly pretty. He bowed as he had seen the Duke do.

"Kongurachureishunsu!", he said, mentally slapping himself for the mispronunciation and raising his head slightly, wondering how long he should stand like this.

"I-I mean... Congratulations for your coronation, your majesty. May I say that you areu as lobely as de snow on topu of Fuji-san? I regret not arribingu sooner.", his words felt weird. It wasn't like him to say that. Was this Roku taking over? If so he was free to do whatever he could if it meant Zuko wouldn't lose his face.

"Thank you, ambassador, for your kind words. I suspect you did not come here for your own pleasure. Is there something your Emperor wants?", she said crisply, well she got to the point.

"Indeed, youl majesty. As you plobably...probabry...uh...probably knowu Nippon-koku isn't exactry de most...social of empiles-I mean empires. De Nederlandsu has given us some knowledge in Yooropian curture. I learned you ranguash from a Oranda hito...dat is a Dutch. However, Empelor Ninkō-tennō is bery wise and hasu decided dat Nippon-koku shall be isorated no mol...more. He has sent me to sealch for potential new arries in dis unrobingu word...woruld...wolurd...oh, folget it, anyway, I took a Oranda no fune to Yooropa and found my way here aftel a few...misundelstandingusu in the empiles souz of hele. Dis kingudom, Denumalk or someting did not rike me for some leason. I'm upu hele now dough, so I tink we wirr cerebrate you now and tark de impoltants tomorrow, we habe deal, yes, no?"

Zuko had given up trying to pronounce it correctly halfway through and was desperately trying to end the conversation. The queen was trying to decipher what he had said and after a few seconds opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. She then just agreed and Zuko bowed and backed away, thankful. The queen's potential sister came back.

"Let me know when you're ready for another round, m'lady!", the Duke of Weaseltown shouted after her.

"Well, he was sprightly.", the queen said, smiling at the woman.

"Especially for a man in heels.", the woman answered while massaging her heels. Zuko didn't hear the rest, but suddenly the woman walked huffily away with a distraught look on her face. He looked after her when she was pushed by the butt of a bowing man. She fell to the ground and Zuko was sure she'd get hurt when she was caught by the man she had talked to earlier.

"Glad I caught you.", he said, smiling that weird smile.

"Hans!", the woman exclaimed happily. They then stood up and begun dancing. Zuko rolled his eyes at the lovey-dovey look that the woman now had. He looked around and saw a noblewoman carefully making her way in his direction, another one came from another direction. He saw Katara standing in a corner and pretended he hadn't seen the two ladies.

"You bored?", he asked Katara in their normal language.

"Yeah...", Katara admitted. They saw the woman and Hans discreetly leave through a side door.

"Me too.", Zuko said, in his usual tone of voice.

"Do you always have to sound so rude?", Katara asked, glaring at him.

"Do you always have to be so hostile.", he asked back.

"Of course I'm hostile. You hunted me and my friends across the world!", he said a bit louder than she realized. The adjacent people looked at them, uncomfortable with their tone.

"Only because you wouldn't give up the Avatar!"

"Because he's the only chance for peace in the world!"

"But he's also MY only chance to get back home!"

"What, so you just want Aang to get your daddy to love you?"

"No, well, yes. But it's for a lot of other reasons too, I've got to regain my honor.

"Well, according to me helping the Fire Nation doesn't constitute regaining your honor!"

"What in the name of Agni above does a Water Tribe savage know about honor?"

"Well, I know that any Nation that almost kills off an entire culture is completely devoid of any honor at all!" They were now screaming. The whole room was listening to the shouting pair, some worried it might lead to a fight, some wondering if this was a breakup, whilst Cymund was making his way through the crowd.

"Shut up! Both of you!", Cymund roared. Zuko and Katara suddenly found that they couldn't open their mouths and at the moment just glared at each other. "Why in the name of Flubber do you have to shout so loudly. It hurts my ears. Also you're attracting undue attention. Remember, we don't want that so could you just, please, maybe, shut up?" Zuko and Katara nodded and felt their jaws soften. Zuko massaged his lower jaw and looked at Katara as if he wanted her to burn.

"This isn't over.", he said and walked off. After a few moments the musicians started playing again. Zuko saw one of the noblewomen come towards him and went out of the castle to the courtyard. Distantly, he heard singing from across the castle.

"With you, with you, with you, with YOU", he heard two people sing before their voices trailed off, leaving him in silence. He couldn't believe how incredibly stuck-up that girl was, he double-backed on his thoughts when he remembered she was now actually, technically a grown woman. Suddenly Hans and his female companion came back, giggling and smiling at each other. Zuko wondered if they were drunk, the woman certainly seemed a bit too happy than what was normal. She bumped into him, almost making him fall, spirits was she strong! They excused themselves awkwardly and multiple times, still smiling, before leaving him to dust off his coat. They disappeared into the large doors. Zuko sniffed! What? Why? Roku was taking over, he was sure and suddenly felt really paranoid. Or at least he supposed his alter ego was named Roku. Since Cymund had said Roku Asami he supposed he could just as well be named Asami. He didn't linger on that thought, besides, Asami was a girl's name.

Katara was standing in the corner where Zuko had left her and moped. It wasn't good that she was alienating herself from her only familiar face, even if the face in question was one of her worst enemies. Easily coming into spot #3. The Fire Lord and that crazy princess only just barely came into spot #1 and #2. There was a disturbance in the hall that made her stir from her thoughts. The queen and the woman were arguing in the middle of the hall. She zoned them out until the queen said something that made her very interested.

"You can't marry a man you've just met.", she said coolly.

"You can if it's true love.", was the woman's 'brilliant' reply.

"Anna, what do you know about true love?", the queen asked in the same chilly tone.

"More than you do. All you know is to shut people out", now the entire room was listening.

"You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no. Now excuse me.", the queen said and began to walk away.

"Your majesty, if I may ease your...", Hans began but was cut off.

"No, you may not. And I-I think you should leave.", she sounded flustered and continued.

"The party's over. Close the gates.", she told the steward. This apparently was cause of much distress.

"What? Elsa, no! Wait!", Anna cried and grabbed the queen's glove, ripping it off her hand. The queen gasped and tried to take it back.

"Give me back my glove.", she said, horrified of something and suddenly on edge.

"Elsa, please. I can't live like this anymore.", Anna pleaded.

"Then leave...", the queen almost whispered. Katara realised that they were family and felt very thickheaded. Normally that was Sokka's job. Anna's eyes filled with tears ready to fall.

"What did I ever do to you?", she asked, her voice breaking.

"Enough, Anna...", the queen said exasperated.

"No! Why? Why do shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?", her voice increased in octaves for every sentence. The queen finally snapped just as she reached the doors.

"I SAID ENOUGH!", she shouted and spun around. The whole world seemed to vibrate but apparently only Katara could feel it. Out of the queen's hands spewed forth magical that froze the floor in a half-circle of icy spikes pointing towards the other people in the room. People drew back and cried out in shock, a few fainted.

"Sorcery!", the Duke of Weaseltown exclaimed from behind his gorillas. "I knew there was something dubious going on around here."

"Elsa..?", Anna whispered in shock, and from that single whisper followed other ones that again only Katara seemed to hear. Most of them were the same single disbelieving whisper as the real Anna had uttered but others were different.

_My sister is a witch._

_Oh, Elsa. That's not going to stop me..._

_Oh no, no, no, no, please, oh god, no!_

_I have to leave._

_Yớ͘u̢̨͠ ͜͜n̶͜e͟v̢̀e̵͝r ̀͢҉i̢nv̷͟it̸̀e͡d͡ ̵m̶͏e͞. _

And a million others that came with them. Katara held her hands in front of her ears until it stopped. Luckily no one noticed. She managed to clear her eyes just in time to see the queen shoot out through the doors as the Duke commanded his men to cut away the icy spikes and capture the witch.

Zuko was frightfully bored. He was leaning against one of the pillars on the edge of the courtyard when the queen burst through the doors. The crowd immediately started cheering, seemingly oblivious to the queen's troubled expression. Now what had happened? Zuko felt inclined to blame the Water Tribe girl... woman.

"Your Majesty! Long live the queen! Come drink with us!", scattered voices said. The woman in question was making her way down to the courtyard. A man bowed to her, a woman bearing a child seemed to notice something was off, Zuko heard some commotion in the Great Hall. The queen, who looked terrified for some reason, backed away to flee but was stopped by the fountain. Then the strangest thing happened, the water in the fountain froze, turning it into a jagged ice sculpture. He heard the townsfolk gasp and rightly so, the queen was a Waterbender? He remembered Cymund speaking of someone who had similar powers to bending who would help them. They needed the queen!

"Heika!", he shouted before realising he had lapsed into Japanese. The queen looked over to him, looking like a chicken sheep about to be eaten by a dragon. The Duke of Weaseltown had gotten out of the doors and was screaming for someone to seize her. The queen was pleading for them to stay away when a flash of ice escaped her fingers and created a slippery coating on the stairs. The Duke and his men slipped.

"Monster! Monster!", he cried. Zuko was getting uncomfortable flashbacks to the village where he had saved a boy with his bending but ended up ostracized anyway. He cursed his lack of non-bending weaponry or he would have swooped in to help her. Then the queen started running.

"Elsa!", shouted her sister who had gotten out of the Great Hall. She ran after and that man with the fake smile followed closely. After them came a few guards. Cymund and Katara came out after them. Cymund took a look at Zuko and seemed to notice his thoughts because suddenly Zuko felt the familiar weight of his double dai swords on his back. He nodded and ran after the fleeing queen, drawing his swords to be ready to protect her against anyone. He probably made for a terrifying sight, running down the streets, his swords trailing behind like a pair of wings. Anyone who looked in his eyes would remember how they had burned with an intense fervor. He saw the group just up ahead and made it to the beach just as the man with the fake smile stopped the princess from following the queen out across the fjord, which was freezing behind her.

"Chikushō.", he swore under his breath as the fjord froze over completely and sheathed his swords. Katara managed to catch up, Cymund was nowhere to be found. Katara and Zuko shared one look and then Katara knew he hadn't succeeded. And then the snow fell.


	5. And of Snow in July

AN: So after that legal disaster between chapters 3 and 4 I have decided to crank this out as fast as I can. But I don't know when I'll release it because all that nonsense in court has made my lust for fanfiction a bit blunt. I'll see if I can finish this story and maybe a few others I've got planned. But no promises. I also tried writing a song since Frozen is a musical. Let me know how it comes out.

And of Snow in July

Zuko and Katara made their way back to the castle with Princess Anna and the man Katara had identified as a Prince Hans. The townsfolk were quietly whispering amongst each other as the snow kept falling from the dark night sky.

"Snow... it's snow in July..."

"Are you okay? Did you know?", Hans asked Anna.

"No...", Anna answered, still wide-eyed from the night's revelations.

"This is not normal up here?", Zuko asked, struggling with every word. It was Prince Hans who answered.

"No, ambassador, it is not. I don't know how it works in Japan but in Scandinavia it usually doesn't snow in the middle of summer.", he answered. Zuko thought he was detecting some exasperation in the prince's voice but he wasn't sure. He hummed thoughtfully.

They reached the gates and were let into the courtyard, where they saw the Duke of Weaseltown shouting to no one in particular.

"Look! Look, it's snowing. The queen has cursed Arendelle! She must be stopped!", he turned to his guards. "You must go after her!" Princess Anna rushed forward.

"Wait, no!", she protested. Upon seeing her the Duke hid behind his men.

"You! Are you a sorceress as well? Are you a monster, too?", he asked, annoying Zuko more and more by the minute.

"No, I'm-I'm completely ordinary!", she said quickly.

"That's right she is...", Prince Hans started before realising how that sounded. "...in the best possible way, of course."

"And my sister is not a monster!", the princess said defensively.

"She nearly killed me!", the Duke shouted.

"You slipped on ice.", Zuko said sarcastically, drawing momentary attention to him.

"Her ice!", the Duke said with an air of finality.

"It was an accident. She was scared. She didn't mean it. She didn't mean any of it. I pushed her to it and that's why I'm the one who has to go after her.", Anna said, surprising everyone.

"Yes. Fine. Do.", the Duke said, apathetically.

"What!", Hans protested.

"Bring me my horse, please.", Anna asked the Royal Handler adamantly.

"Anna! You can't do this! It's too dangerous!", Hans said.

"Elsa's not dangerous. I'll bring her back. I'll make this right.", she assured him.

"I'm coming with you.", he said.

"No, I need you to take care of Arendelle.", Anna said, was she leaving her kingdom in the hands of someone she had just met? Zuko was baffled.

"On my honour...", Hans said after a few moments.

"I leave Prince Hans in charge!", Anna told the crowd.

"Are you sure you can trust her? I don't want you getting hurt.", he said, Zuko got that odd feeling in his gut.

"She's my sister. She would never hurt me.", and with that show of trust she snapped the reins and rode off.

"Good riddance.", the Duke mumbled. The prince glared at him, but said nothing. Then he started giving orders to the guards and townsfolk to start cooking up soup and glögg, procuring cloaks for the ones needing cloaks and start fires around town.

"I take it you didn't manage to catch up to her.", Cymund said, somehow managing to sneak up on Zuko and Katara.

"Where have you been?", Zuko asked scathingly.

"While you two were rushing after the queen I found some servants who didn't know what was going on and set up shop as a fortune teller. I then looked into the future plot. You see, to do that I have to maintain physical contact with someone indigenous, something I have found is only socially acceptable for old men they've just met if it's under the pretense of palm reading plus it gets us a good amount of money, which we need if we want to keep our warm rooms at that inn. Don't worry about the queen. From what I've seen it's going to be fine so right now, we stay low, try to remain unrevealed and other than that you can do whatever you want. Go to your rooms and pick your navel, help the inhabitants warm up their kingdom or just go to a good bar and drink yourself under a table, that is by the way what I'm going to do. See ya, have fun.", he walked off before any of them could stop him.

"I'm going to help, you?", Katara stated.

"I'm going back to the inn.", Zuko answered and walked away, leaving Katara in the courtyard. She shrugged, she should have known he wouldn't help. She then set off to ask Prince Hans what she could do. He took a look at her and told her to go help the cooks prepare soup. She nodded and asked the way to the kitchens. Later when she got back to the inn she would glare at Zuko who was sitting by a corner table and then go to bed, falling in sleep immediately.

The next day Zuko was wandering around the town trying to find the bar Cymund had told him about the previous evening. He wasn't quite sure if he was going the right way but he was hoping for the best. Wasn't that the story of his life? He scoffed at himself. As he rounded a corner he saw a small girl, about ten or eleven years old, crying over a pile of sticks with a packet of matches in her hands. A wet, blue woman was shuddering something fierce against a wall. The girl saw him.

"Help! Help, mister! My mother fell in the fjord and the guard said to light a fire but the sticks are wet and I can't do it!", she said very quickly and then cried even louder and threw away the matches. Zuko went over without being able to stop himself.

"Calm down. You will never save anyone if you only cry.", he said sharply. The girl tried to push back the tears but it didn't work. "Here. I know how to light fire, wet sticks or no.", he said and picked up the matches. He struck a match and put it to the pile of sticks while carefully turning the moisture in them into vapor. Smoke came from the pile and soon there was a fire crackling happily away. The girl's face broke into a wide smile and she helped her mother sit closer to the fire.

"Thank you, mister! Thank you!", she shouted happily and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"No worries.", Zuko said, mostly to be polite. "What is your name?", he asked.

"Idun. I was named for the former queen.", she answered. "You?"

"Zu-Roku Asami", he said, almost forgetting himself.

"Zuroku Asami? That's a weird name.", Idun said.

"No, just Roku.", Zuko corrected.

"Still a weird name. Your eyes are weird too. Why are they so weird and yellow?", she asked rather rudely in his opinion.

"Why are your eyes so weird and green?", he asked back.

"My father's eyes were green.", she said. Zuko noted the past tense.

"Well, my father's eyes are yellow.", he said, ending the discussion. "You know, your mother should not be outside in this weather. You should take her somewhere warm, like the castle or inn. Here, I will help you.", and so he made the freezing woman lean onto his shoulder and let Idun hold her hand. They walked towards the nearest place Zuko knew about, which happened to be the castle. When they arrived at the gates a few guards showed up.

"This woman fell in the fjord, she needs help.", he told them. They stared at Idun's shivering mother. "Well? Go on!", he said in his most commanding voice and the guards scrambled to get the woman inside. In the corner of his eye he saw Idun quietly realise that he was more important than he seemed. He motioned for her to go with them into the castle. She followed wide-eyed and wondering, but then smiled at him. He didn't smile back. He never smiled. He smirked or grinned if he had to. But this time, he felt his mouth twitch. This time he had managed to keep his bending in. He wouldn't be ostracized by the ones he saved. It felt surprisingly good. The guards took Idun's mother into a room and said that Idun had to stay outside. There might be serious disease in there, they said. Idun looked at Zuko who nodded. She frowned, kissed her mother on the cheek and then started walking towards the gates. Zuko decided to follow. If only because he had nothing better to do. They walked in silence, both contemplating their mothers.

"Do you have somewhere to go?", he finally asked. Idun nodded.

"But I can't go home without mother. She's got the key.", she explained.

"I see.", Zuko said.

"Can I come with you?", she asked innocently.

"The inn where I have decided to live while staying is not a place where I would bring little girl.", he said after a bit of thought.

"Oh, come on, my mother works at Det Skyggefulle Verthuset.", she said. "I've been there lots of times."

"How did you...", he started.

"There's only one inn in town that could be described as a place where you wouldn't bring a little girl but still someone important might live there if left with no other choice.", she explained.

"Mhm...", Zuko hummed. "Very well then. Let's go."

Katara felt that making soup without bending was just as easy as with. She had made some serious progress in the field of having to handle a soup ladle. That was easy. Stirring with it? Easy. Serving with it? Easy. The only problem was that for every second she was working on the soup she had to use all of her willpower to not stir it with bending. It felt so humiliating. Bending was such an important facet of her that when she was robbed of it she felt so weak. The door opened as a pair of guards came in with a woman. Katara almost shuddered in cold herself at the sight of her blue skin.

"She needs to sit by the fire, she fell in the fjord.", one of them told the cook who called on some of the kitchen maids to help the woman to the fire as the guards left. Katara knew several ways of preventing hypothermia and frostbite. It was one of the first things she had learned from her lessons with the healers at the North Pole. All of them required bending. But she couldn't just leave the woman to die. She knew the signs of when you couldn't be saved by a fire. So she abandoned the spoon to the kitchen maid next to her and walked as confidently as she could. She had to make them trust that she could do this, or she wouldn't get a chance.

"I know a way to help.", she started, earning some stares from two maids trying to warm the woman. They were suspicious. "Please. A fire won't save her. It's too late for that. I'm from a land where this happens often, I can help.", she said.

"What do you need then, young lady?", the cook said doubtfully. Katara paused, thinking, planning.

"I need a bucket of water, a room and some time alone.", she said. The cook clapped her hands and the two kitchen maids scurried into action, then she turned to Katara.

"You better know just what you're doing or there'll be hell to pay. Doesn't matter if you've got an ambassador as boyfriend or not."

"What? No! It's not...", she began but the cook waved her away. The maids arrived with a bucket of water and led her and the woman into a room with a sofa and a fire place. They lay down the woman in the sofa, lit a fire and then left, closing the door behind them. Katara felt the paintings on the wall stare at her judgmentally as she cautiously bended some water, sensing every sound, and began the healing session.

Zuko and Idun arrived at Det Skyggefulle Verthuset at the exact moment Katara began. As they entered Idun walked up to the big woman behind the bar who Zuko remembered had held a ladle for no other reason than to point it at people. He hadn't seen her smile at all since he arrived but now she cracked up in a wide one.

"Look who's here! Hello, Idun.", she called.

"Hello, Astrid. Hi, Haakon. Morning, Pierre.", she said, moving across the dining room.

"Halló, Idun. Have you been practicing your words?", asked a man sharing tables with Haakon.

"Auðvitað, frændi Hróðvar!", she answered in a language Zuko didn't pick up. "Set anything on fire recently?"

"Not yet, stelpa. But I might now that I can do it legally.", he said with a smile. "Who are you with?"

"This is Roku. You and him might be able to talk about fire. He helped my mother get to warmth.", she said. Zuko felt betrayed somehow.

"Kristina? Is she alright?", the man asked wide-eyed.

"I think so. We left her at the castle.", she said. The man seemed to calm down.

"Þakka guði! You can count on the castle to have lots of fires. Finally something good comes out of the old queen's desperation for warmth.", he said. "But... now there is no chance for me to see her with the guards on the loose."

"So you did burn something!", Idun said accusingly. The man who had responded to the name Haakon let out a deep laugh.

"Trust me, little girl. Hrodvar burnt nothing. The flower hats and us just didn't see eye to eye with us 'talking' to a man in an alley.", he explained. Idun didn't look pacified yet. In fact she gave Haakon a glare that could burn through souls. The two men recoiled. Zuko left her to them, feeling uncomfortable just standing and listening to their conversation. He scanned the room for an empty table but unfortunately only found one with Cymund. He grudgingly sat down next to the man...men...who knew?

"I see you found a friend.", he said.

"Not a friend. I just helped her, that's all.", Zuko argued.

"Of course.", Cymund smirked. Zuko felt disturbed. It didn't help when Cymund started watching Idun from afar as she argued with the two thieves. He had a thumb placed on his lower lip. Zuko said nothing.

"You don't talk much.", Cymund stated, as if it was clear to all, probably was too.

"What are you looking at?", he asked instead of listening to Cymund.

"Oh, nothing. She just reminded me of someone. Someone long gone.", something flashed in his eyes for a moment before he shook it off. "I need to get you away from here before anything happens to you. It's my mess and I'm the one who has to mop it up. The queen is coming back here soon. And after some excitements she'll be ready to help us. In the meantime I'm figuring out exactly how we're doing this."

"You don't know?"

"This hasn't happened to me very often, okay? Imagine if you aimed a fireball at a wall in a room and somehow managed to miss it. That's how it feels for me. I should've had it under control. It's easy to push back. I slipped up and now we're all stuck in Wonderland until the Queen of Hearts comes back from her little mountain hike.", Cymund's voice managed to raise itself to a shout at Zuko while still somehow being a nigh inaudible whisper to all the other patrons.

"Well then. At least you know what to do with your time.", Zuko said as a waitress finally arrived to take his order. He ordered mead after inquiring about what it was.

"A honeyed drink.", the waitress replied.

Cymund was looking at him now.

"What do you want?", Zuko asked after a minute.

"I was wondering if you might help get the business flowing here.", he replied.

"Why would I do that?", Zuko was annoyed. Why couldn't everybody just leave him alone?

"Because it would be beneficiary to our cause. It's like sending a scout ahead during marches, you should know about that.", Cymund said, seeming just as annoyed. "Now will you help me?"

"...What am I supposed to do?", he asked after a while.

"Just ask for me to tell you your future. I won't be able to see the plot through you, and therefore whatever I say will be a load of bull.", he explained. It seemed to Zuko that was what Cymund did most, explaining. They set themselves up to sit opposite of each other across the table. Zuko glared at Cymund before holding forth his hands reluctantly. Cymund took them.

"I see", he muttered vaguely. "You have a secret you do not want to be outed, but be careful or it just might." It was nothing Zuko already knew but some of the other patrons were looking over with interest. Idun in particular was looking over at them, excusing herself from her uncle, she made her way towards Zuko and Cymund's table.

"Are you a fortune teller?", she asked excitedly. Cymund nodded. "Wow, that's so cool! Can you do me?"

"It'll cost ya ten kroner though.", he said.

"That's expensive.", she protested.

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly selling bread now am I? Pay in advance by the way, don't want you running off with the money in case you don't like what you hear."

"Fair enough.", she produced a large coin from her pockets. It had the image of a spread eagle against a mountain with the number 10 embedded in its chest on one side and some sort of flower on the other. Cymund took it from her palm.

"So how are you going to do it?", Idun asked.

"Palm reading, can't afford one of those fancy crystal balls yet.", he muttered.

"Right. I'm ready, do it.", she looked as if she was about to take a jump into a lake. Zuko remembered doing that when he was little. Cymund grabbed her hands and turned them palm up and started reading them. He got a strangely distant expression that certainly hadn't been there when he read Zuko's palms. Then he spoke in a gravely voice.

_Four deaths shall you die, daughter of fire and ice. First shall you die by flames in winter, second shall you die out at sea in spring, third shall you die on a mountain in summer and last shall you die, your life fulfilled and be buried next to your sire in autumn, forever watching the woods._

Cymund broke out of his reverie and blinked tiredly. He was looking at Idun with the first expression of genuine distress Zuko had ever seen on him. He hadn't thought he had it in him. Them.

"I know what you must be thinking, child. But death foretold isn't always physical. It could just be a severely traumatic change, which isn't any better, I presume. But remember this, fate isn't written in stone. This is but the most likely outcome. You could do something to stop this if you care or by trying to stop it inadvertently bringing it to action. Any small choice matters, think carefully before acting and this may yet be averted.", Cymund said in a surprisingly sagely voice. Idun nodded dully, her eyes glassy. She turned to Zuko.

"I think I want to go now.", she said. Zuko nodded.

"We can check on your modder.", he said. She nodded again and slid off the chair, bidding farewell to the patrons and the bartender, she went out the door with Zuko into the cold.

The walk was very quiet. Zuko knew that Idun was thinking over her potential fate and respected that. He was somehow jealous of her for at least knowing some of her fate. He was still left in the dark about that. Music reached them on the wind and Zuko was shocked when a man standing in a doorway started singing.

_Cold,_ he sang.

_Freezes large and small alike,_

_No matter if it's a horse or a shrike,_

_It gets them all._

A woman further up the street carried on.

_Cold,_

_To be staved off with warmth and fire,_

_To be feared when times are dire,_

_Or we will fall. _

They walked past the small duke of Weaseltown, who continued.

_Cold,_

_This 'queen' has cursed the land,_

_So how can't you understand,_

_The witch must burn. _

Zuko felt hate welling up at the words of the little weasel and those around him were either shaking their heads or looking like they thought he had the right of it. Meanwhile in the courtyard, Prince Hans was starting to sing.

_Cold,_

_Hasten back to me, my love,_

_For as long as you are gone,_

_My heart will yearn._

If Zuko had been there he would have thought it a tad bit to romantic to be entirely truthful, but he wasn't and those that were sighed at the obvious love the prince had for their young princess.

_Cold,_

_Envelops us like a shroud,_

_Did I just say that out loud?, _the Duke asked.

_First it takes our toes,_

_And then our lives,_

_A crippled life,_

_If one survives,_

_The fires, they don't seem to warm,_

_Snow flakes falling in a swarm,_

_There's no way out,_

_We'll freeze to death,_

_Frozen is our final breath,_

_COLD_

Zuko felt a distinct doomsday vibe and he didn't like it. He felt slightly better once they reached the castle and were permitted inside.


	6. Of a Storm of Whispers

**Of a Storm of Whispers**

The castle was more stuffed than it had been on the coronation feast. Zuko supposed this was obvious, as there were a lot of fireplaces around. Idun seemed to be adept at moving through crowds whilst Zuko had to find openings and clearings. When they were allowed into the inner castle by a guard huddling next to a fire, Idun was appraising a ruby ring. Zuko had a fleeting suspicion it wasn't hers and said as much.

"I thought you were chewing out those men at the inn for being criminals?", he said.

"Yeah, well, they hurt people. Physically.", she said, throwing him a frown.

They rounded a corner and bumped into a maid who broke into a smile when she saw them.

"There you are! I was dispatched to find you, sir.", she said. "This must be the daughter.", she added upon seeing Idun.

"How is she?", Idun asked, her face suddenly taut with worry.

"She's fine!", the maid answered. She then turned to Zuko. "I don't know what your friend did but it seems to have saved the poor woman's life."

...What had Katara done now? The woman in question was now coming out of a room followed by another woman who Zuko didn't quite recognise. Then he realised it was Idun's mother only not as blue and with a slight limp. She called Idun's name when she saw her. Idun's face was split by a grin as she charged into her mother's waiting arms. When she reached them, there was the sound of distant thunder and a raging wind filled the corridor. Whispers were carried with it.

From just inside the room Katara had come out of, pained and worn down...

_You have to kiss me._

Passing into the room, sick with grief...

_You can't die, I won't let you._

Skipping down the corridor, disturbingly cheerful...

_Time to cut out the obstacles..._

Again from the room, confused and frustrated...

_Conceal, don't feel, he says. But how can I not feel?_

Like from down a tunnel, with childish petulance...

_Why can't I play with her? I want to play with her! It's what I came back for!_

Zuko could tell that Katara had heard it too, but the others in the corridor didn't seem to for some reason. Zuko was about to ask them if sudden whispering storms were common here when a glance from Katara told him not to. Ha. What did she know? Still, he shut up. Idun looked up at Katara from her mother's embrace.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you thank you!", she said. Katara smiled softly.

"It's nothing. I had to sacrifice her left toes though. I couldn't...they were...too frostbitten.", she admitted.

"What did you do with them?", Idun asked.

"I burned them. Standard procedure. Why?", Katara said.

"I just wondered what people did after an amputation, that's all.", Idun said. "Did you have to cauterize?", this to her mother. Who nodded, paling a bit at the memory. Zuko supposed it must have hurt seeing how, well, fire burns. Then Idun's mother turned to Katara.

"I can't thank you enough, milady. If you ever pass by Det Skyggefulle Verthuset be sure to stop by and ask for Kristina and I'll give you a treat.", she said.

"That's actually where we live.", Katara said.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'll see if I can't get Astrid or Haakon to allow you a discount. They'll never let you stay for free but it's the least I can do.", Kristina said. Katara thanked her and nudged Zuko to do the same. He did so, but all the sappiness was dulling his senses. He tried to find an excuse to leave, found none and left anyway. Katara did not like that and bid Idun and her mother farewell before stomping after Zuko.

* * *

They had reached the square at the castle bridge when Katara caught up to him and grabbed him by the arm. A new storm of whispers broke out.

Filled with fear...

_Kristoff... Elsa... NO!_

A sigh...

Filled with hate...

_Long live the queen!_

A scream...

Filled with anger...

_I did it for me and I do not regret a second!_

Pained choking...

Filled with sorrow...

_It's only fair..._

A lightning crack...

Filled with happiness...

_Again! Again!_

A winter's wind...

This time both of them ignored it, even though the townsfolk had started looking around for the sources of those whispers. More important matters were at hand. Katara was glaring at Zuko.

"You're just impossible, you know? First I think there might be some good in you and then you just walk away without explanation. What is your deal?", she hissed.

"My deal? What's my deal? Don't you think I know what you did in there? Everything would be ruined if someone had walked in on you healing someone with floating water. Did you see how they reacted to the queen?"

"First of all, it looked like she was actually attacking them. Even if it was a misunderstanding. Even if someone barged in on me all I was doing was helping."

"And how would they know? I've actually been around this town more than you have and, you know what, they hate anything that looks like magic."

"It's not magic."

"How would they know? What am I doing? You can't make a savage understand these things."

"I understand perfectly. She would've died without me. By the way, you have a lot of guts calling me a savage when your people killed my mother."

"Well then, at least you know where you have her!", he screamed. That shut her up all right. He turned to walk away, ignoring the townsfolk staring at him. They started muttering and some screamed. What was it now? Cold rippled across his back and left a wet mark in his coat. He turned around. It could only be, couldn't it?

The savage was standing in the middle of the square, legs wide apart and swinging around a water whip. Zuko could hear the Weasel Duke screaming on his men to protect him. Zuko felt such a fierce anger in him that the snow beneath his feet turned to steam. That made the indignant Duke shout even more. Zuko breathed in, breathed out and threw a fireball in Katara's general direction. She nimble dodged it and tried to lasso him in vain. Then she started throwing ice balls at him. He jumped and ducked and finished off with three quick jabs. She slid across the snow and made a wave to flush him away. The snow was to her advantage. Something had to be done. Zuko made a cloud of steam by punching at the ground and did some somersaults over Katara, blasting her full with fire. She made a shield of ice and then started to ski in circles around where he landed. She made small pillars of ice here and there and then cut them up into discs to throw at Zuko who was blocking them with punches and kicks of fire. Then the water whips were out again, but this time Zuko countered them with whips of his own. Smoke bellowed out of Zuko's nostrils, his mouth and even his ears, his blood boiling in rage. All those who had ever hurt him stood now instead of Katara. His sister, his father, the general, General Zhao, the Avatar and his friends.

One of the Duke's men decided to charge the two battling teens aiming for Zuko as he was the closest, but was promptly clonked in the head by a stray ice pillar that Katara ripped out of the ground by accident. He got up and stumbled off thinking about chirping birds.

Katara ripped out the ice pillars from the ground and threw them one by one at Zuko who dodged them, coming closer and closer and...

An ear-splitting crack, nearby thunder, and whispers, whispers on the wind.

The queen's voice, filled with frustration...

_Anna..._

A man's voice, filled with endearment...

_Lass..._

A man's voice, filled with hate...

_Fiend..._

The Duke's voice, filled with indignation...

_Witch..._

A man's voice, as distant and echoed as from down a tunnel...

_Child..._

Then the wind picked up. The townsfolk looked around fearfully, clutching their loved ones.

_Anna_

_Lass_

_Fiend_

_Witch_

_Child_

_Anna_

_Lass_

_Fiend_

_Witch_

_Child_

The susurrus picked up into a roar.

_ANNA LASS FIEND WITCH CHILD LASS FIEND WITCH CHILD FIEND ANNA WITCH CHILD FIEND WITCH LASS CHILD LASS FIEND ANNA WITCH ANNA LASS..._

It continued until neither Zuko nor Katara could bare with it any more. They clamped their hands in front of their ears and fell to their knees. So much pain, the worst head ache ever. Out of the corner of his eye Zuko saw Katara fall over. He tried to stand but his legs were too weak and he buckled under. He could hear the Duke screaming and demanding for their arrest. Prince Hans trying to scramble the guards. Hans walking over to him. His voice fading in and out of Zuko's hearing.

"I'm sorry, ambassador, but until...know that you two are...less, you'll have to...the dungeons", he said, sounding faraway.

A horse galloping through the gates. Shocked talking. Hans scrambling for volunteers for something. The Duke whispering to his men. Hans commanding their incarceration. A pair of arms roughly grabbing him. A whisper...

"Hello, slint-eye..."

AN: So what do you do while waiting for your internet to come back? Write a chapter apparently. This one was pretty quick. Now one must face the age-old dilemma. Should one a) Give a 'Next time on...' montage. b) Ask questions about what the readers (you) think is going to happen. c) Just leave off. Yes, this is a serious question!


	7. Of Arrivals

**Of Arrivals**

At the exact moment the older Olsen brother grabbed Zuko, there was peace and tranquillity in the forest, the mighty eagle shrieked from high up in the sky. An elk raised its head from some lichen on a stone to gaze for predators foolish enough to attack it. A few meters away on a tree-free hill there was complete chaos.

A pair of strange characters came out of a hole in the sky. One rolled down the hill, the other stayed on top. Both were very broken and battered. None were happy.

Falling... She remembered falling... Did she slip or was she shoved? She remembered the sudden cold. Him slowly sinking beside her. Knowing that without him there was no life. The embrace. The cold. The darkness. So what was she doing on top of a hill in the middle of some backwater forest? She lay still for who knows how long. Finally he came climbing up the hill. At the sight of her he rushed to her and started violently kissing her.

"Some air, please.", she said.

"Sorry.", he said sheepishly. "Are you okay? What happened?", he said, suddenly concerned.

"I...Oh, god. My head hurts.", she said.

"Can I do anything?", he asked. She smiled at him, ever the helpful knight.

"You could get off of me.", she suggested. He pulled away. She snickered at his expression and stood up cautiously. She looked around.

"Where are we?", she asked.

"No idea.", he replied unhelpfully. So not always the helpful knight. He was still her prince. They walked in a completely random direction and hoped for the best. She felt a pain in her left leg and her eye was acting up again. The splitting head ache and the runny nose didn't help. It was just as cold here as it was where they had left. Wherever here was. They walked for half an hour, she stumbled on roots and he looked worried. When they finally came out of the woods, they got the shock of their life, or whatever this existence could be called.

"Do you...do you see what I see?", he asked. She nodded numbly.

"What do you make of this?", he asked. She thought long and hard.

"I think...I think someone must have decided a second chance was in order.", she said, laughing nervously and still breathless from the view. Or maybe not just the view. She threw up violently, took two steps and then fell over. He ran and caught her before she touched the ground. She was breathing, but slowly.

"Alright, sweetheart, we need to get you some medical attention...and I think I know just where." He looked over at the town of Arendelle, the castle towering over it. It was just as he remembered it. Castle Arendelle. Home to so many proud generations of Arensens all ruling Arendelle save for those three generations of Norwegian rule 200 years ago. He needed to get back there. There was still a chance. A chance to fix this.

* * *

At the exact moment the man had stumbled down to the frozen fjord with the woman in his arms, another man woke up to a violent thrashing, someone was shaking him for all they were worth. Then he was slapped. He opened his eyes and found he had some rag in front of them.

"Hello? You awake yet?", a voice called. A voice he knew far too well.

"You! What business do you have with manhandling me like this? Is this for your witch queen?", he asked.

"No, not really. This is for me. A girl needs a treat after a near death experience.", the voice said , far too cheerfully.

"A treat? Harrumph! And what do you presume to do with me?", he asked, indignantly.

"Really, you were the first one I saw alone, so I just grabbed you. I heard you sent away your men. Bad decision, weasels need to stay together, especially if they're from Weaseltown itself.", the voice said mockingly.

"Weselton! It's Weselton!", he did not care for her tone at all. He heard a joyless laugh and the scraping of metal against stone. The rag was taken off. He could now see her. She was dressing a bit more sloppily since last he saw her. He did not like that. He also didn't like the mean-looking knife she was balling with. "What do you want with me?", he asked, his voice breaking a little, or a lot.

"Isn't it obvious? We're alone in a cave that only I know of. You're bound by rope against a pillar. I'm holding a large, beautiful knife. Obviously I'm going to give you a good time and then let you be on your merry way.", she snorted.

"I suppose it would be to much to hope for...", the Duke started.

"Yes! Yes, it is! Instead, I'm going to give me a good time and then let you be on your merry way...down a pit. I've gone for too long without hearing a scream.", the smile turned into a smirk. The Duke shuddered.

"You'll never hear me scream.", he promised, sounding less confident than he was acting.

The smirk turned back into a smile, which in turn grew into a grin. "We'll see."

The Duke of Weselton screamed on the first cut, and died on the thirtieth.

* * *

At the exact moment of the fourteenth cut, Idun and her mother got home. They lived in a small room that technically was part of the inn in which her mother worked, but Haakon, who always was kinder than his wife, let them live there free of charge as long as they worked well enough. It wasn't much, but it was home. You always needed a home. Her mother took out the small key and unlocked the door. When they went inside they immediately noticed something wrong. The cracked vase on the windowsill was lying broken on the floor and there came strange sounds from the wardrobe. Sobbing sounds. Idun and her mother exchanged a glance and Idun stepped forwards. Her mother stopped her with an arm. She then snuck up carefully to the wardrobe, placed her hand on the knob and pulled.

There was a horrified scream. A woman dressed in slightly burnt clothes was curled up beneath Kristina's dresses and whimpered.

"Stay away from me. Stay away from me.", she breathed, looking ready to break at any minute.

"What are you doing in our wardrobe?", Idun asked. The woman's gaze turned to her. It was filled with immense pain. Idun noticed her eyes were golden.

"I don't know, I don't know. Please, leave me alone.", she begged.

"I'm sorry, miss. But you're in our home. We can't leave our own home. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave.", Kristina said gently.

"I can't, please. I can't. He was...there was...lightning, thunder...I think I killed him. Please, please, just leave me alone, please.", she said desperately. Idun and her mother exchanged another glance.

"I'm sorry for asking and I understand if you won't answer, but...WHO...did you kill?", Kristina asked.

"He...he said it had to be the sword.", she answered in a whisper.

"Look. Whatever you did it seems like you regret it, right?", Kristina said. The woman nodded.

"Well then, it might not seem like it, but I know what it's like to kill and all four times I never got used to it. I could hide you away in here. You'll be alone with just me and Idun. What do you say?", Kristina held out a hand. The woman seemed to darken. Kristina insisted and the woman shook her head.

"You don't understand, you can't understand. I'm dangerous.", she said, sounding irritated. Idun thought her hair was glowing.

"I won't give up until you take my hand.", Kristina said. The woman looked at her like she was poison.

"I said, leave me alone.", she screamed, and in that instant all her hair caught on fire, a cone of flame spreading from the hand she had held out to push Kristina's away. Idun only caught a flash of the unknown woman's horrified and tear-streaked face before her mother was engulfed in flames.

Idun screamed.

* * *

On the exact moment Idun was out the door, a maid named Maja was wandering down the corridors in the castle. People thought Maja was a bit bonkers. Not quite alright up in her noggin. For example, she often saw things, like floating objects or transparent men and women wandering the corridors of the castle where no one else saw anyone. She also heard things, like voices from the other end of a tunnel or strange sucking sounds from various places in the castle, of where the dungeons were the worst. Whenever she saw or heard some of these things she often told herself it was only because she had too little sleep or had been working too hard. Except, she slept like a child at night and only had small chores like dusting off furniture or whipping mats. What Maja didn't know, and neither did anyone else, was that she had seen and heard strange things since before she could walk and talk. She was a Medium. A link between two entirely different worlds of matter. Tangible matter and intangible matter. Living and dead. Physical and spiritual. She didn't know this and once when a friend of hers suggested this very idea she had been laughed at. Maja had laughed the loudest. Because if she was afraid it would be true. She didn't want that as an explanation, she wanted something reasonable and worldly. And that was why she most of all thought she was bonkers. However, this night would change that. She was walking down the corridor past the library when she heard one of the Noises. A sobbing Noise, like that of a child. Maja decided she wanted none of this and turned to leave when it struck her that perhaps this wasn't a crazy Noise. Perhaps it was a real child who was lost and scared in a dark castle. The part of Maja that completely adored children was filled with sympathy for the unknown child. So she walked slowly towards the source of the sobbing. And wouldn't you know it, there was a small girl.

"Excuse me.", Maja said, making the child look up. "Are you lost?"

"You can see me?", the girl asked. Maja felt cold fear spreading in her chest.

"Yes.", she said. "Can't everyone?" Please say yes.

"No." Damn it. "They can't. Not unless they're dead."

Maja felt like dunking an ice cold bucket of water was preferable to this. The imaginary girl smiled.

"Do you want to play with me?", she asked.

No no no no no. "Sure, what should we play." She was an idiot.

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

AN: Short chapter, lots happens. The plot is finally moving along. I hope you can forgive me for some of the drama in this chapter but seriously, no story is ever fully a drama without a few deaths. So, who are these strange newcomers. (I think you can guess one of them.) What part will they have to play? Will Zuko and Katara ever get out of prison? Find out in the next chapter. Coming out who knows when hopefully sometime soon!


	8. Of Incarcerations and Revelations

AN: Okay, let me just say that I am very sorry for not warning you about the sudden character death and darkness in the chapter preceding this one. Sorry about that. From now one I think I'm going to have a vague run-down of things that may disturb you in a chapter. Because I think there's going to be lots of that. This chapter then...

**Of Incarcerations and Revelations**

**WARNING**: This chapter contains insults, blood, jailbreaks, betrayals, mind control, accidental forced arm breaking, chilling descriptions, sewing, gratuitous (and possibly incorrect) Greenlandic, Talmudic Hebrew and High? Valyrian, painful-looking changes in a person's body, as well as a potentially mind-blowing revelation about a person's identity! If you have a phobia of, get particularly nauseous of or just think you can't stomach any or all of this, do not read this chapter without a companion, living or non-living, to hug when the corresponding scenes appear on the screen. Thank you for reading this warning. Have a good day.

In the exact moment the Man from the Sky was halfway across the fjord, Cymund was sitting on the exact same spot and in the exact same position as Zuko had left him fifteen minutes ago. In fact, the waitresses were throwing nervous glances in his direction then and again. If they had done more than that they might have realised that he wasn't breathing either, and that his face was slowly fading away, very slowly, like a minuscule snail was leaving an equally tiny trail of blankness on his face or like wet clay being smoothed out. At that moment someone might have gone up to him and slapped him without any result. This was because the four personalities that colloquially were known as Cymund had withdrawn from the physical world and were holding a crisis meeting. The girl he had just divined, she looked so much like a younger Ginny. If it weren't for the brown hair and the blue eyes she'd be a perfect match, and the future he had predicted for her...

He still remembered the crackling of flames, the shrieks as she burned to a crisp, the jeering crowd around her.

"_Maegi! Maegi! Z__ālā__! __Zālā!"_

The screams, by the Author, the screams. All he could do was watch, too late to do anything else. Why hadn't he arrived earlier? He should've arrived earlier. But what was he to do about this prediction? Sigmund said they should do anything they could to save the girl. He didn't want another Ginny. Silas argued that they shouldn't, and that they all remembered last time they went against the Plot. His body jerked a bit at the memory and made a waitress jump into the air.

"Now we at least know he's still alive.", she giggled.

Cymund thought over his options and finally came to the hard decision of not helping Idun. There were more pressing matters to take care of. Cymund rose. He stopped once to let Idun and Kristina through the door. It took him all his willpower to keep Sigmund from taking control and bolting after them.

He was just rounding a corner when the fire started.

When Katara woke up she had a splitting headache and for the first time in her life felt she really needed a drink.

"You awake, eh? Witch?", a rough and unfriendly voice said. It was the bearded one of the Olsen brothers. Though now that he was the only moderately interesting thing to look at she saw that it was more of a band of hair across the bottom of his chin, well one of them at least. Katara wondered momentarily why he was standing behind bars before she remembered, and then she threw herself at them.

"No, please. This is a mistake. I'm not supposed to be here. It's all Zuko's fault.", she managed before she threw her hands before her mouth.

"Suko, huh? This gets more and more interesting for every second. Who's Suko, witch?", the shorter Olsen asked. She remained quiet. "Oh, great. I never was good at guessing.", he muttered.

"Is it another one of your wizard friends. Is it the demon you made your pact with? Or perhaps one of you are travelling under a fake name? Maybe, it's your black cat?", her silence made him visibly redden for a brief second before a terrible smirk crossed his fat face. "Well then, witch. Keep quiet for all I care. We've completely dried this chamber out. You're not getting out before you answer our questions." He let out a snicker that made his multiple chins wobble. "I'll just keep myself occupied, shall I?"

He produced a piece of cloth, a pair of tattered pants and thread and needle and began sewing the cloth on. It reminded Katara of how she always fixed Sokka's pants, a memory that right now did more harm than good. Spirits, she missed him. She never thought she would but she missed him and his pitiful attempts at jokes, his constant attempts at mucking everything up, his ridiculous love for meat, though she could do without his snores. She smiled at that. She missed Aang as well, and Toph and Momo and Appa, wherever he was, and she missed Suki and Bato and Dad and...too many to count. They had always been there and now they weren't. It was almost unthinkable.

She had to get out of here. Somehow. For them. But how? How? She could feel the drought in the chamber, where were they? Without water she was practically helpless. There was a pained outcry from her warden. He had pricked himself with the needle and was sucking on his finger. He took it out and looked on it. There was the faintest view of a small drop of blood collecting on the minuscule wound and then it flowed down his finger in a little rivulet. Flowed? Flowed! Blood flowed! Water flowed! Could she? Could she really do that? She looked out of the only window. By some luck of fate the full moon shone through it. Now was her chance, if she could do this at any instance it would be now. Carefully she lifted her arms in front of her, pointing at the guard. He looked smug and opened his mouth to laugh.

All that came out was a pained choke.

Zuko woke up a cell that was far too damp and cold for his liking. A man was grinning at him. Olsen.

"Good mornin', sunshine. Up nice and early for the big day, eh?", Olsen snorted. "A man of few words, then? Great. That makes this all the more fun.", He snickered. Zuko jumped up and threw himself at him trying to fire bend through the bars. It didn't work. Only smoke and embers came out. It was far too damp and cold for his liking.

"Huh, someone woke up on the wrong side today. Wrong side of the bars, perhaps?" The bastard laughed again. Zuko was getting tired of that.

"What do you want with me?", he snarled.

"Not much, we just want to know why the Japanese Emperor would send a sorcerer to Arendelle. If he ever sent you at all, that is. Now, what is your business here? What did you hope to accomplish by wrecking the market square? Where is that geezer that came with you?", Olsen roared.

So they hadn't found Cymund yet. He hoped that was good. He kept quiet, hoping to stall for time.

"Very well then, slint-eye. I hoped you would be helpful, but it seems like I have to clear your memory.", he said, apologetically. He brought out a large stick from a cupboard. It seemed to have something alarmingly red splattered over it. Olsen reached for the key chain on his belt. Zuko got an idea, to lay in wait for the idiot to open the door and then attack him. Zuko reckoned he could take Olsen any day of the week, stick or no. Even if he was feeling sick due to the dampness and the cold. Olsen unlocked the cell door, only for the door behind him to open as well.

"Wha...?", Olsen said, irritated that he hadn't been able to do anything.

"Mr. Fredrik Bjørn Olsen? I have a proposition to make."

Olsen's eyes widened.

Meanwhile, Katara made a little whoop of joy at her success. Jerkily, she made his unhook his keys from his belt and walk in a zombie-like gait to her cell door.

Then she saw his look of utter terror and felt bile rising in her throat. He was just a jerk, and that was all there was to him. He wasn't some ancestral enemy. She fumbled when she tried to make him unlock the door and heard a terrifying crack from his arm. His eyes watered. Panicking, she made him drop the keys and slammed him against a wall, he was knocked out cold. She hoped that was all to it. She remembered the feeling of total power that had risen in her like rot. Tears stung her eyes as she sat down and cried for all she was worth. After a few good minutes she snatched the keys from out her bars and unlocked the door. She took a look at the knocked out guard and tried to pull him into a more comfortable position. It was terribly hard what with all his weight.

It was only when he had left his sight that the exhilaration returned no matter how hard she tried to repress it. She had discovered a whole new technique. How many could ever claim to do that? It was completely amoral and should be made illegal at once but still, she felt really clever. She took the keys and carefully made her way out the door. They must have decided she warranted a special chamber. Outside she found her water pouch, empty of course, and some coin Cymund had given her. She was about to leave when she remembered Zuko. Iteq. Qutersaq. She felt those words were justified. The big jerk-face was an ancestral enemy. But they were still in this together, and she supposed, no matter how grudgingly, that perhaps it had been her fault that this had happened. He had provoked her but she should have been above it. She should have been above it, spirits damn it. She had to get him out. Damn him. Damn her. Damn all of this. She felt so done with this. Why couldn't this have happened to someone else? She never wanted to swept off to another world with an enemy prince with a temper shorter than his hair. Really nice hair, that made you want to drag your hands through it. But that was beside the point. She couldn't forget about the potentially extremely bad old man who seemed to be of the kind her mother warned her about. Her mother... No, not now. Why was her brain on overdrive right now? Oh yeah, she had just basically possessed an innocent (though not likely) man and broken his arm! That probably made you a little unstable. She heard voices from a nearby cell. She drew some liquid from a nearby tankard and realised it was beer. Whatever, you make do with what you have. The voices were talking about a fire wizard, the way they were speaking made it clear said fire wizard was there as well. So he had gotten a special cell, too. She felt less special now. Bending the beer into a whip she jumped around the corner into the open door and...saw Cymund staring awkwardly at her while the taller Olsen brother was glaring at her. Zuko was just coming out of his unlocked cell door. She heard Cymund whisper a strange word.

"Imma, help us.", and then he said, very carefully. "Katara, there is nothing to fear here. Mr. Olsen here has decided to help us for a small fee."

'Mr.' Olsen was still glaring at her. "Wha did you do to me brother?", he asked.

Shakran's lies!", Cymund said. "Alright, Mr. Olsen, here's your money." He dumped a wad of money into Olsen's hands. "Come on now, let's move."

"Wha did you do to me brother?"

"Let's go. Let's go. No looking back."

"Goddamnit, witch! Wha on God's green earth did you do to me brother?", Olsen roared.

"Nothing. I'm sure he's fine. Right, Katara?", Cymund said.

"Yes. He...he unlocked my door himself.", Katara stuttered.

"Now why do I find that hard to believe?", Olsen said, not noticing as Zuko snuck past him.

"Dunno. Let's go.", Cymund said, hurrying them to the door. Olsen rushed over towards Katara's chamber.

"Out of interest, what did you do to his brother?", Cymund asked. Katara gave him a frightened look. "That bad, huh. Gardan. Let's move before he gets there then.", he said. For once, they all agreed.

They had gotten out of the dungeons when a ferocious scream came from somewhere inside. No prices for guessing where from. Then they heard Olsen sound the alarm.

"I guess he found him. Move, move, move.", Three times were three times too many. They started running. Up the stairs, down the corridor, more stairs. They heard clattering and stomping as guards started mobilising throughout the castle. A heavy door blocked their way, but Cymund, who had gone past caring, turned it to splinters with a look.

On the other side was the courtyard, a guard gave a cry and pointed at them. Cross the courtyard, out the gates. The gates were still wide open in order to let people in to the warmth. They saw some guards trying to trap them by closing the gates, when suddenly the three of them felt the wind on their backs and rocketed out of the gates, which shut behind them.

"There's no time to rest, we have to get across the fjord. They'll never expect that and then we might get a good show when the queen returns.", Cymund suggested. Or at least he made it sound like a suggestion, the wind was still pulling at Katara and Zuko and made them follow him.

If they had looked to their right as they sped across the frozen fjord, they might have seen the man carrying the woman around the same spot where Anna and Hans had had their first tumultuous meeting. If the man had known this, he might have felt it strange. He didn't, and so he instead put the woman on the pier and hauled himself up to land. Then he once again lifted the woman into his arms, tired beyond comparison, and continued limping towards the castle gates. He was beginning to feel a distant pain in his right eye, something running down from there. Something liquid. No time to rest, no time to check. So close, so very close...

They opened the gates, guards rushed out. They stopped and pointed at him.

"Sir!"

"I can't believe it"

"What happened?"

He groaned and shouted, his voice hoarse.

"Help her! Help her! Now!", he commanded, memories of how to do so slowly returning. They looked at him, at his right eye, at her. The captain who was in charge nodded and escorted them into the courtyard. Curious servants, guards who had been thrown off the trail and ambassadors who had been rudely awakened by the noises were slowly making their way outside. Most of them gasped and started muttering and whispering at the sight of him. He dimly recognised the fact that he probably was in a sorry state. One servant rushed up to him.

"Get a doctor. See that she is healed.", he ordered her. She nodded

"Of course. But, sir. What about your eye?", she asked.

"What about my eye?", he asked and put his hand to it. When he pulled away his hand was covered in blood. It was only then he felt the pain, fierce and constant. He groaned. The bastard had taken it.

"Get me some bandages, but make her the top priority.", he said through clenched teeth, as to not cry out. The servant nodded again, Gerda was her name, he remembered. Kai's wife, wasn't she? Due to the fact that no group of disgruntled councilmen had stormed out of the castle armed with swords he supposed Kai was either not there or they had somehow travelled back in time. Or perhaps even forward. He felt that he should ask for the date but felt that would seem strange. He felt that things were different here somehow. He was going to have to find out what exactly was different.

He was about to let himself be led to the infirmary by a tutting maid when there was a knock on the gates. There was more muttering and whispering. Who could this be? The man signalled to open the gates. The sight of what was behind it was disconcerting, to say the least.

"I think they're not chasing us.", Katara said, looking back towards the town and the castle. There seemed to be some trouble at the gates. Zuko looked back in interest. Cymund trudged on.

They reached the other side of the fjord a good two minutes later before he spoke up.

"This looks like a good place to rest, we'll get a good view of the show too. Could you help me find wood for a wind shield?", he started before he caught sight of something in the woods. "On second thought, perhaps we should move a bit." He looked uncharacteristically pale. Zuko glanced over to where he was staring and caught sight of a small pinkish sphere floating behind a tree. He made to walk over to it when Cymund grabbed hold of his arm. He shook his head. Zuko pulled away and snuck up to the tree. There was nothing behind it.

"What was that?", he asked, in the same way one might ask why a person lacked a shadow. Which Cymund did, Zuko suddenly noticed.

"Nothing of any great importance, perhaps we should move to some place else.", he suggested once more. There was obviously something he wouldn't tell them, and Zuko in particular hated when that happened.

"Maybe we should listen to him.", Katara said. Zuko glared at her. Traitor. Not that he had ever trusted her anyway. To be sure.

"Well, I think we should stay here. Whatever that was it didn't look big enough to be dangerous." Zuko argued.

"Size does not always matter. Besides, that was not the whole creature.", Cymund admitted.

"So you do know what it was!", Zuko said triumphantly.

"Of course I did. But I'd rather not re-acquaint myself to it.", he said, already starting to move away from the area. They had no other choice but to follow.

Cymund stopped after a few minutes of travelling around the coast. They were nearing the opening towards the sea. Cymund told Katara to make something for them to sit on out of the snow. A few seconds later they sat in three armchair-like constructs. Cymund muttered a few words, carefully as not to attract any undue attention. Though not from the guards across the fjord. The impromptu chairs heated up, the snow somehow having lost its melting point.

Cymund held the third crisis meeting in this week. He knew what the thing was. He almost knew who the thing was. The four consciences talked about whether or not they were going after the thing. Some argued it was too dangerous. Others told them to 'stay here if they were so scared', resulting in the answer that they couldn't leave if they wanted to.

After a lot of arguing Cymund stood up. Katara and Zuko had long since fallen asleep, exhausted after the day's events. Cymund took off some of his robe and enlargened the pieces into two blanket, which he carefully lay upon them. Then he looked at the moon, high in the sky, and he looked into the dark of the woods and entered.

After a few minutes he saw something moving from behind a tree.

An eyeball the size of an apple came into view. It had no iris and the pupil was large to accommodate for the darkness.

"Where's the rest of you?", Cymund asked it. It looked further into the woods and flew away in a manner that reminded Cymund of a large tadpole, the exposed nerve endings being used as a tail. Cymund followed.

After another good few minutes they came to a clearing. In the middle, illuminated by moonlight, stood a thin robed being in a shaman's mask. As the eye drew closer the mask swung open, revealing that the 'robe' was just a piece of cloth suspended in the air. Out of it came another eye, looking exactly like the other. The two eyeballs swirled around each other in some strange greeting and then turned their gaze to him. A voice came from somewhere behind the mask.

"Cherev", it said, by way of greeting. Upon mention of that word, Cymund felt a jolt of recognition. He knew who the thing was.

"Oheldavar", he answered. "Why are you here? Has Seferel regretted his decision?", he asked.

"Sipur-harishon regrets nothing. You know this Cherev, or was that one of the things we purged from you?", Oheldavar said, as emotionless as always.

"No, it was not.", Cymund said. "Then why are you here?"

"You have once more violated the agreement we made when we decided to purge you only by half. I have come to warn you again. Last time you did this you destroyed the plot of an entire universe. You were in luck that it was only a Fenfik and thus of little value.", Oheldavar explained.

"Failure to comply will result in immediate purging from this multiverse."

"Yes, yes. I heard you last time.", Cymund said. If he had shuddered he didn't show it.

"You are not intimidated.", he stated.

"Well, what are you going to do? Bump into me? Fly in my face?", Cymund asked. It was the wrong thing to say because the robe started rippling like it was blown by an imperceptible wind. There was a rumble emanating from the robe and more eyes came streaming out of the mask until there was about thirty or more. The eyes looked ready to shoot fire. Cymund thought he could see the pupils redden. Its voice carried into the night air and seemed to come from everywhere at once.

_**I am Oheldavar Ayin-hashumarim. I do not act alone. We may have purged most of your memories with us. But know this Cherev Shumar-hasipurim, I am not only a messenger. If you give me cause to do you harm then I will.**_

The robe had flown into the air, the eyes orbiting around it like comets. Cymund edged back some. Oheldavar came back down and drew a rattling sigh.

"Once...you were the best. You were my friend. I shall give you one more chance, but heed this: if you break your oath once more, we will come...and then my generosity will be past."

He lifted the sides of the robe and made to lift off.

"Wait! Oheldavar! Is...is Cherev my real name?", Cymund asked.

"It was. You are no longer worthy of it."

Oheldavar flew off, looking like a manta ray in the sky. There was a light and a sucking sound, then he was gone.

As Cymund returned, the sun was rising. It was soon time for the final showdown. The climax. And then he could send them home. Or he supposed so. He couldn't remember exactly how to do it. As they watched he would have to think. He sighed. This time he wouldn't have a crisis meeting. If Oheldavar had noticed his presence he must have been less subtle than he thought. There was no way of telling if another had felt him, someone less forgiving. There was no time to waste.

Zuko woke as usual with the sun. He couldn't stay asleep when the sun was out. Not unless he blocked himself from it. It was calming to know that at least this hadn't changed. It was not calming to wake up on snow in the middle of an unnatural winter. Cymund was looking out over the fjord lost in his thoughts. Katara was still snoozing.

Zuko sat up and dragged a hand through his hair to smooth it out in case he had bed hair, which he usually had.

"Awake, eh?", Cymund said, finally noticing Zuko. "We should wake her as well. Show's about to begin. Just kick back, relax and enjoy. We'll be out of here soon enough."

Zuko thought Cymund didn't sound too sure himself. Cymund shook Katara gently, making her groan and yawn.

"Ugh, is it morning already?", she moaned. There had only been four hours of sleep.

"I'm not sure you could sleep through what is coming up next, even if you tried. I'm saving you the trouble of being startled awake.", Cymund explained. "Any time now." The last was mumbled.

They waited for half an hour before a man mounted on a horned animal (Katara later told him it was called a reindeer) burst out of the woods, carrying a white-haired woman and a _living _snowman trailing behind. Zuko let out a shocked yell, drawing some stares from Katara. He quickly composed himself.

The strange group continued down to the town, the snowman broke off from them before the bridge. Zuko heard a scream not quite unlike her own. His was of course a bit manlier. He hoped. The reindeer man galloped up to the gates, clear in view. He jumped off and went up and knocked on the gates. They must have opened because he was talking to someone. Arguing with someone. Shouting at someone. Cymund looked grim. Something was wrong. The man turned and walked dejectedly back to the reindeer and its cargo.

Fuck.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no. This was bad. This was BAD. This was so very, VERY **BAD**.

"Is this supposed to happen?", Katara asked.

"_**NO!**_", Cymund had thrown himself from the snow chair. He was pacing back and forth with an expression of utter fear and horror that scared the two wayward souls. He was mumbling in a language neither of them knew. In a sudden fit of confused anger he picked up a rock and threw it at the frozen fjord. The rock was big enough to shatter the ice and make a sizable splash. Then he looked at them in understanding.

"I am an idiot. I should have realised that when you throw a rock into a pond the water isn't just still, it ripples. It ripples. We have to do something.", he said.

For the briefest of moments he had five faces. He turned away from them and strained. His robe seemed to convulse and bulge until two long curved snow-white limbs grew from him back like trees, branching downwards to make sharp, brass-coloured metal plates, all done under complete silence. It took them a few moments to realise that he had just grown a set of wings. He grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks and flew over the fjord. What a sight they must have been.

When finally on the other side, Cymund drew his wings back into his robe, no clue that they had ever been present visible. The reindeer man looked startled by their sudden arrival and the reindeer itself was making a threatening sound. The woman on the reindeer however looked up and faintly smiled at them. It was Princess Anna.

"Ambassador. Hi again.", she said.

"What's going on?", Cymund demanded to know. The reindeer man looked only a little bit mollified by the fact that Anna seemed to know them.

"Um... Anna, who are these people and why do they have a giant bird man?", he asked.

"They're the ambassador of Japan and his girlfriend. The bird man's new.", Anna sounded very tired.

"She's not my.../He's not my..."

"There's no time. Why aren't you in there?", Cymund said.

"Well...", Anna started. "Kristoff talked to the guard at the gate. He told them that I needed to see Hans immediately but then they...they said...", she looked so unbelievably tired. Kristoff took over.

"They said she couldn't be the princess, because the princess was already there."

AN: Dun-DUN-**DUN **(dramatic thunder) What a twist. How many saw that coming. I can't see if you're actually holding up your hand right now or not. I'll assume you aren't. So, if any of you feel you are better than me at Greenlandic, High? Valyrian and/or Talmudic Hebrew, feel free to PM me. If you know more than basic grammar, you probably are.

Next time on AMIA (which somehow can also be an abbriviation of Avatar: Missing In Action if we add a colon): The gang decides to not care about the law and try to save Anna anyway, also we are introduced to the mysterious man and woman, now presumed to be some look-alike of Anna and witness some inflammatory speechifying of some sort. This and some other stuff in: Of Speeches, Doubts and Scheming Men


End file.
